Hancock and Moore factory visit

I think it’s clear from the forum that we are all fans of Hancock and Moore furniture. I was privileged recently to have a quick tour of the factory. I live in NC so the trip is not far but Duane set everything up from afar with his connections so everything went smoothly. It was a spur of the moment trip to see a particular sofa. Here is my report to our fearless leader:

I made it and thank you so much for the heads up about the sofa coming off the line and setting up things for me so quickly. I did not get there until 3:15 and didn’t realize that quitting time is at 4pm, but covered a lot of ground with the employee assigned to me. An employee named Shannon showed me around the departments giving me a quick tour. AMAZING! I mean I used to sew, but those are some huge machines! They were making lots of furniture for the upcoming market—should be interesting. They had a couple of those giant sofas with the bench on the back and armrests that remove (can’t remember the name), that were unbelievable; one of them for the market has an attached leather tufted bench that surrounds it. I think I could watch that incredible workmanship all day—everyone is so good at what they do!
They had 2 Stockholm sofas in the warehouse—one was getting burnished and I met the young lady that does that and she explained her technique of putting more on other pieces in places like armrests and headrests that might need more protection. I got lots of leather samples (thanks for the advice). I guess they didn’t sample the Hyde Park and Cameo leathers since they get burnished (those are 2 of my favorites; if $ was no object then Quintessence). It’s confusing because there was a Renoir sofa covered in Document Maize that was really beautiful; it seemed more matte and I would never have guessed it was Document (maybe you would have).
I liked the Stockholm sofa--it was actually less stiff and my feet could reach the floor easier in the one with standard cushions vs the other one with down cushions; that was surprising to me. They also had a Stockholm chair being burnished. The wood on the Stockholm sofa and chair in Belgian chocolate is gorgeous. Also, the wood on any of the James chair series was very beautiful. So now I’m still not decided because there are so many outstanding ones to choose from and I think I still like the way the Martini sofa sits.
I also sat in a Weldon lounger and loved it—it is smaller than the Martini lounger that I thought I liked and sat better to me than the Sami and others.
I have given up ordering to get furniture in time for Christmas. Now I’m wondering what amazing finds there will be at the upcoming market and if I should wait to see those.
I hope to return to H&M for a more complete tour and perhaps to be able to meet Mr. Moore.
Thanks again for the intro to H&M; it was a very worthwhile afternoon!

Glad you enjoyed your quick tour of H&M. A Jimmy Moore tour is the best - he LOVES to talk about his company and tell stories, however at Market Time (October and April) he's generally not available as he's setting up the showroom in High Point, which is a big job.

I do like the Stockholm series - quite a lot. It sits well, even for a big guy like myself and has a smaller form factor, and the curves of the exposed wood set it apart from the thousands of more generic sofas that everyone makes. I like statement furniture, that showcases the art of the trade, and that's what the Stockholm does, not too many firms can even tackle an item like that with the sweeping curves in the wood frame, that's a Hancock and Moore speciality.

Even though I tend to shy away from Document, its mostly due to the dark browns, which for me are too 'fake' in appearance. The Copper, Tobacco, Chestnut colors etc., have too much paint high/low on them for my tastes, it looks artificial. However in some of the non-dark brown colors, it can look OK. Overall its the #1 selling leather for H&M, but not at my store....lol.

I may go to Market in a couple of weeks - haven't decided for sure. They are rolling out a new 'URBAN' collection they tell me I must come see, so perhaps I shall.